"WildStar" is reportedly saying goodbye to its subscription model in favor of going to Steam as a free-to-play video game.
Carbine Studio is set to make the switch with its science fiction MMO in August, with SteamDB listing the game's billing type as "Free on Demand," according to PC Gamer.
The report follows only a year after "WildStar" made its debut in the gaming world, and it's been having a hard time obtaining new players and keep the players that have been loyal ever since.
"Free on Demand" is the billing type used by games that people can play for free, Digital Trends reported. The license type is listed as "Single Purchase," which presents the possibility that the players will still need to buy the base game and that it is only getting rid of subscription.
The issues that "WildStar" has faced, which have forced most MMOs to ditch their subscriptions, came despite the praise the game received for its skill-basic combat system, with some critics saying it could be successful even with "World of Warcraft" holding the top spot in the market.
The report also comes several weeks after Australia pulled "WildStar" from its shelves, which started rumors of the game switching to free-to-play, Digital Trends reported.
One Reddit user claiming to be a Carbine employee said on Thursday that the move will indeed happen, IGN reported.
"As has oft been discussed around here, Wildstar is going to be changing its business model in August (tentatively of course, patch stuff etc) to a Hybridized Free to Play model," the source wrote. "Now thankfully it is not going Pay to Win, I suppose you could call it 'Freemium' in a way as a lot of the stuff that the paid accounts will get is buffs to experience/rep/renown etc gain and character slots and the like, no direct power buffs or anything like that. MTX (Microtransactions) will be included moving forward as well and you will hear more about that very soon."
"WildStar" publisher NCSoft has yet to confirm if the game will actually switch to a free-to-play model.
